Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, illness, and death.

The Shred family fractures in the face of Ollie’s mental illness. They grieve her loss—both real, as she runs away and becomes unreachable for long periods of time, and symbolic, as she transforms into someone they struggle to know—and keep their own counsel. Indeed, Ollie herself becomes an object of shame and secrecy, and the family unconsciously agrees to conceal her condition. While this is not the only reason that Ollie seeks refuge outside the family, it certainly factors into her later forays into freedom from the Shreds. Amy, too, must break away from the family in order to find herself; this is a common feature in coming-of-age stories. Ultimately, however, the novel suggests that distance is not sufficient: The family must find a way to forgive each other and themselves as they rebuild in love what was broken by loss.

Amy notes the moment at which the family decided to ignore or refute Ollie’s mental illness, the night of her mother’s birthday party: “We all suspected the bracelet was stolen; that evening marked the beginning of our collective denial” (28). Ollie’s present to her mother, a diamond-studded tennis bracelet, is clearly beyond her financial means, and the family is already aware of her shoplifting.